Friendlier Office Designs For Achy Breaky Bodies

Men ought to like this stuff. Ergonomic furniture has all the makings of male bonding--cars, sports, aerospace engineering, jargon, even La-Z-Boy chairs.

It's all in there.

"In the past, ergonomic furniture was an industry driven by corporate pro- jects," said Gary VanderWood, La-Z- Boy's director of dealer development. Now, it is focusing more at the retail level, more of what consumers want."

The question is: How can we know what we want if we don't know what ergonomics is?

Not as hard as it sounds. Let's take a crash course.

The study of ergonomics considers the problems of people adjusting to their environment, especially on the job. The business of ergonomic furniture is to solve those problems and make the environment work for you.

For example, our work environment has been forever changed by telephones and computers. Home offices are no exception. We sit at our desk for long stretches, which discourages what physical therapists say is a natural (and healthy) tendency to move. A straight- back chair borrowed from your dining room set or your grandfather's old dressing room was not intended for such marathon sessions.

Seems hard to believe, but sitting all day can actually cause serious health problems. We lock into postures that often lead to poor circulation and repetitive strain injuries or RSIs. Parking in front of a computer monitor, whether at home or in the office, can be a continu- ous pain in the neck--and wrist and shoulder and back and . . . you get the idea.

Manufacturers are chanting the RSI mantra. They are designing dozens of lines of adjustable furniture that allow you to move in several ways while you sit, maintain proper body alignment and, not to be overlooked, keep you comfortable.

Some manufacturers are specialists in ergonomic furniture, while others have moved to the home office from other rooms in the house. In any case, every maker is striving to make the chair that best fits you.

The Ergomax from American Ergonomics permits users to sit in six distinct positions while maintaining the proper neutral position. A swivel cushion can be adjusted to provide back or front support, the latter an unusual offering. The frontal cushion feels funny at first, but you soon will recognize it as a welcome option. The list price is $995 before discounts and optional features.

The Air Lumbar Pump system by BodyBilt Seating makes you feel like your whole body is a foot sliding into one of a certain ex-Bull's famous athletic shoes. You pump air into the backrest with a built-in, bubblelike device to custom-fit your body.

The Air Lumbar Pump is one of nine separate adjustments on BodyBilt's J-Series chairs (starting at $895), which the company claims are modeled from the study of astronauts in space. There are also five types of armrests, including a pivoting style that allows you to turn the armrest in any position. For many of us, armrests can prevent sore necks and shoulders.

Keiper Recaro Seating Inc. offers a pricey, executive-type chair called the Recaro EX ($1,812 list price) with "road-tested comfort." Some models have remote controls (for another $450), like a luxury automobile seat. In fact, the whole line looks like something out of an Indy 500 race car. And it's not surprising-the Michigan-based Recaro got into the executive chair business after first making seats for the auto industry.

Hey, don't forget La-Z-Boy, said VanderWood. His company makes both the more common "task chairs" and executive-type chairs.

"Our XC-3 task chair (starts at $450) provides an infinite range of adjustments, including a 5-degree forward tilt on the seat pan," VanderWood said. "This is a new development. It's like riding a horse (a neutral posture without the bumping and bouncing).

"You can also adjust the height of the back piece; the armrests are adjustable for height and width. The key is to make all adjustments easy, so they can be made from seating position."

Learn your chair

No question, some ergonomic chairs are like VCRs. Many features go untapped because people don't know how they operate.

"We can design all kinds of wonderful ergonomic furniture," said Andrew Cogan, vice president of marketing for The Knoll Group furniture company, "but it's no good if no one uses it."

Knoll has just introduced its newest ergonomic chair, called the Parachute (starts at $525) at NeoCon, the office furniture trade show held last week in the Merchandise Mart.

"Our controls are logical-up and down, forward and back," Cogan said. "There is an instruction manual, but we don't want people to feel they need to read it."

The Parachute chair was 22 months in development. Its designer was inspired by ski and scuba equipment, plus the newest technology in running shoes.

"The whole aesthetic is more like sneakers or sporting equipment than office furniture," explained Cogan. "It is geared to performance. You want a sneaker that fits you. Why should this be any different? We used pressure maps (to eliminate pinching) just like running shoes."